Owney Madden

Owen Vincent "Owney" Madden (18 December 1891-24 April 1965) was an Irish-American gangster and the owner of the famous "Cotton Club" in Harlem, New York City during Prohibition.

Biography
Owen Vincent Madden was born in Leeds, England on 18 December 1891 to a working-class Irish Catholic family, and his family moved to Hell's Kitchen, New York City in 1902. Madden became a gangster in the Irish community of the city, and he was arrested for murder in 1914. In 1923, he was released from prison after just nine years of a twenty-year sentence, and he purchased the Cotton Club in Harlem, New York City, which became a center of African-American culture during the "Harlem Renaissance". Madden was involved with African-American criminal Valentin Narcisse in Harlem, partnering with him to control a growing entertainment industry as it spread to New Jersey and other areas outside of New York. In 1932, Madden was arrested for parole violation after taking part in the murder of Mad Dog Coll, and he fled to Hot Springs, Arkansas, where he died in 1965 at the age of 73.